>So, let me get this straight. To save a hive of bees, you wouldn't even throw it a banana!

> ...are you suggesting that a treatment with only anecdotal support should not only be used, but should be recommended and assumed to work?

Jeez, you kind of extrapolated a bit on what I said! No, I am not suggesting " a treatment with only anecdotal support *should* be used." And I definitely am not recommending it, nor do I assume it would work!!

I am suggesting that if there was a perfectly innocuous substance such as a banana that could benefit and even save a hive of bees, *I* would use it. I don't know if this works, but hell, it's worth a try. I am not the one who has strict prohibitions on giving the colony a hand. If my bees were sick, I'd help them. 

The banana definitely falls into the category of GRAS -- generally recognized as safe -- just like the lemon grass oil/spearmint concoctions that folks are buying by the drum. I don't know if these concoctions work, I haven't seen any evidence they do, and I don't use them. 

But GRAS products, such as sugar, pollen patties, herbs, and yes -- bananas -- are permitted to be introduced into hives by law since they are not "treatments" in the accepted sense, but dietary supplements. By the way, "anecdotal" is not a bad word. Many anecdotes and folk stories turn out to have sound scientific basis -- such as the use of honey on wounds.

PLB

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